The King
by D.C. Renegade
Summary: The Naruto world is once more thrust into danger, and it will take the old heroes and a few new faces to save it this time. A new generation of shinobi are growing up to follow in the footsteps of the old, and must band together to fight a new evil which threatens the entire Ninja Alliance.


NOTE: I decided I wanted to make a work based in the Naruto world with new characters, it takes place after the original series with new and old characters. I also understand that how I dealt with the Sasuke situation is unlikely to be near the canon result, but I like the idea. This is one point I'd like feedback on though. Anyway, this is sort of an interest check of sorts, to see if people would keep reading. Anyway, here we go.

Prologue: The Fox and the Hawk Go Hunting

Naruto looked out the window of the Hokage's office onto the village. It looked so peaceful. It had been ten years since the defeat of Obito and his Project Tsuke no Me, and since then the world had enjoyed relative peace. The Ninja Alliance had been maintained, with each village staying in contact, but they still behaved as autonomous nations. With the defeat of Project Tsuke no Me, an era of peace was welcomed with open arms. But tonight, for the first night in years, Naruto felt like something big was about to happen. He placed his hand gently on the window and continued to look out, unblinking, for the trouble he felt coming.

**_I feel it too_**, Kurama's voice echoed through Naruto's head. **_Something is amiss.._****. **

Naruto nodded and remained completely still for a moment, and after that moment passed he felt the natural energies of Sage Mode coursing through his body. Closing his eyes, he let his senses reach out across the village and beyond, as far as he could sense. But his attention was immediately focused on one chakra signature near the gates. "There," he muttered.

Kurama prompted a question, _**Is it...? **_

But he didn't finish, as the door to the office burst open. "Naruto, the sensors have picked up a chakra signature that's passed through the barrier," Shikamaru informed him, "they think it's-"

"I know," Naruto cut him off, "let me handle it. Tell them to stand down. And swear them to secrecy."

"Naruto, we can't keep this a secret forever," Shikamaru replied.

"Maybe not, but for now, it's taboo, got it?" Naruto answered, his voice stern. Making commands was something Naruto had to get used to once he became Hokage, especially when he had to order his peers around. It was still strange for him, but in situations like this it came naturally.

Shikamaru nodded without another word and Naruto strode passed him, pulling his cloak from the rack and throwing it over his shoulders. It was modelled after the one his father, Minato, had worn as Yondaime Hokage.

Naruto leapt from rooftop to rooftop, towards the chakra signature. It had stopped moving now, so Naruto let Sage Mode end and went into chakra mode, moving like a flash. In no time at all he had crossed the distance from the Hokage's building to the gate, where he stopped and his chakra cloak disappeared. Naruto found himself in an alley between two shops. Away from any prying eyes that may be up so late at night. Down the alley was the source of the chakra signature, the invader in the village.

"It's been a long time," the hooded man said, "Naruto." As he lowered his hood, it revealed a mask very similar to the one Obito had worn.

"What's with the getup?" Naruto asked. "People will mistake you for Obito. You'll send the village into a panic, y'know."

"So they'd mistake one dead man for another."

"Yeah, but Obito's really dead, unlike you," Naruto replied, "Sasuke."

Sasuke removed his mask, revealing the face that Naruto hadn't seen in over a year. After the war, Sasuke would have come back to the village, and the Alliance would have allowed it, but the daimyo and a large number of others opposed. So Naruto and the Five Kage faked Sasuke's death to appease them, since then he had been working from the shadows to assist the Five Great Nations. He and Naruto had maintained contact as much as possible, but it wasn't easy. Only a select few knew that Sasuke still lived outside of the Five Kage, including the highest ranking members of each village, and some of Naruto's peers.

"I take it from your sudden arrival in the dead of night, something urgent has happened." Naruto guessed.

"You could say that," Sasuke responded. "You know those disappearances that have been reported by the Alliance as of late?" After Naruto nodded, he went on, "Gaara contacted me, asking me to look into them. So I did."

"And?"

"And you won't like what I found."

"Now I'm really interested, y'know."

Sasuke shook his head solemnly. "I'm not sure what he's doing to them, but as shinobi I ran into by the name of Tetsuya has been kidnapping them. I ran into him as he was fighting Darui and Cee of Kumogakure," Sasuke explained, "By that time... he had already captued Killer Bee. He would have taken Darui and Cee too if I hadn't shown up. I took on this Tetsuya guy while they got away and learned a bit about his fighting style. He uses a lot of forbidden techniques, but that's not the worst part. The worst part is that he didn't seem fatigued at all during our fight, even after throwing out an arsenal of powerful and draining techniques."

"How did you get away?" Naruto asked, the discomfort apparent in his voice.

"He ran away," Sasuke answered. "I'm not sure why. I chased him to the Land of Earth, and lost him in the Riddled Canyon."

"So you think his hideout is in that area?"

"It seems likely."

"Then let's go," Naruto decided. "Let me pack some things and we'll head out."

Before sunrise, they had left the village.

They traveled far and fast. By their fifth day of travel they reached the Land of Earth. Naruto had only been to the Land of Earth a handful of times since becoming Hokage, but Sasuke had traveled the nation from border to border. It was one of the easier nations to remain undetected in.

The Riddled Canyon was close to the border, it had been a major battleground in the Third Great Shinobi War. Kakashi had told Naruto stories of the battle, and it sounded brutal. Apparently it had been an all-out assault launched by Konoha shinobi, that took the Iwa nin stationed at the canyon unaware. They fought for three days and nights, tearing the canyon apart. Kakashi told Naruto that what won the battle there for Konoha was Minato's arrival on the fourth day of battle. Single handedly, the Yellow Flash turned the tide of that battle and drove the Iwa ninja back. Naruto remembered feeling so proud of his father when he heard the tale.

Naruto and Sasuke stood atop the canyon wall, looking down into it. Craters and cracks were scattered about in interlocking clusters. You could tell it had been the battlefield for one of the bloodiest battles in ninja history.

Standing perfectly still, Naruto felt his body fill with natural energy. He stretched his senses into the canyon and almost jumped when he detected a huge pool of chakra signatures gathered together. Sasuke could tell his friend had found something apparently, for he asked, "What is it?"

"The chakra signatures of everyone he's kidnapped... but they seem odd." Naruto answered. "I'm not sure... I've never felt anything like it."

"Well, where are they?"

"Underground," Naruto responded. He scanned the canyon and sensed a barrier nearby. "Over here!"

He ran down the canyon wall with Sasuke close behind him. About a kilometer away from their starting point they found a boulder with an invisible barrier placed on it. It would have been almost undetectable, even to most sensor ninja, but Naruto's Sage Mode found it easily. Naruto made a long string of hand seals ending with the rat sign.

"Source Cutting Seal!" Naruto tapped the boulder with his right hand and the barrier faded away. Then he held out his right hand and began spinning and compressing his chakra into the Rasengan, which he used to shatter the boulder.

"Well, chances are he heard that," Sasuke said.

"Probably," Naruto agreed, "but he probably already noticed that his barrier had been shut down."

"Humph," was Sasuke's response.

The two of them broke into a sprint down the newly revealed corridor. The passage led to a large open room with a spiral staircase that descended into the darkness. "Let's go!" Naruto leapt off the staircase and down into the darkness, biting his thumb and forming hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" he cried, summoning Gamaken who landed with a loud boom as he hit the floor. Sasuke was at Naruto's side shortly, atop a large hawk.

Before them stood a man with dark red hair, tied back in a low ponytail. He wore a black high collar shirt under a grey and red, sleeveless cloak and black pants. He looked up at Naruto with a twisted smile.

"Welcome to my home, Hokage-sama!" he said with open arms. "I never expected such guest of such nobility would grace my underground fortress." He laughed dryly before adding, "Oh wait, yes I did." He made the rat seal and cried, "Forbbiden Jutsu: Ancient Dream Prison!"

Naruto realized that Gamaken had landed on ritual markings infused with Chakra. The toad fell forward, losing consciousness instantly. Naruto leapt off the toad as he fell and switched into chakra mode, conjuring a Rasenshuriken in each hand. He threw both at his foe, who made a few hand seals and held both hands out before him. "Forbidden Jutsu: Spirit Vapor!" The two Rasenshuriken disintegrated instantly as they reached him into mist.

Sasuke soared over head, and leapt off of his hawk as it dive bombed Tetsuya. The shinobi used yet another technique to repel the bird. "Fire Release: Flame Bullets!" The hawk pulled out of his dive bomb and barrel rolled to avoid the attack. Sasuke was still falling towards them but Naruto helped him evade by using his chakra arm to pull Sasuke out of harm's way. The two shinobi stood side by side now, facing Tetsuya.

"Not bad," Tetsuya said. "As expected from the Hokage."

"What are you doing with the people you've captured?!" Naruto roared.

Tetsuya smirked, and replied plainly, "Feeding." Then he formed the rat hand seal and cried, "Forbidden Jutsu: Ancient Dream Prison!"

After that, the battle seemed to fade away.


End file.
